The Rotary Foundation: Doing good in the world

When Rotary started in 1905, it was just an idea and the vision of one man: Paul Percy Harris. The Chicago, Illinois-based attorney formed the Rotary Club of Chicago on February 23, 1905 (the first Rotary Club in the world with his three friends), so that professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful lifelong friendships. Over time, Rotary’s reach and vision gradually extended to humanitarian service.

By next month, Rotary International would be 120 years old – the fellowship and humanitarian service organisation that you will find in over 200 countries and geographical regions, including some of the world’s most remote locations.

Paul Harris died a long time ago on January 27, 1947 when he was 78 years old. But Rotary – his dream and idea – has continued to thrive and endure and waxing stronger each day with 1.4 million members in over 46,000 Rotary and Rotaract Clubs worldwide.

In 1917, something remarkable happened during the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a life-changing initiative that would ensure that the Rotary vision of serving humanity did not die. It simply means Rotary would be with us forever; the idea would be sustained in perpetuity.

Arch Klumph, the sixth President of Rotary International, came up with the idea of setting up an endowment fund at the convention that became known as The Rotary Foundation (TRF) “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” It was previously called the Permanent Fund. That idea, with an initial contribution of US$26.50, “set in motion a powerful force that has transformed millions of lives around the world.”

The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment and alleviating poverty.

The Rotary Foundation is the non-profit arm of Rotary International. A Board of Trustees manages the business of the Foundation, led by the trustee chair. The Rotary International president-elect nominates the trustees, who are elected by the Rotary International Board of Directors.

The trustee chair serves for one year and trustees serve for four years. One of the trustees is our own Pearl Ijeoma Okoro, a Nigerian, who is currently serving on the board. Ijeoma is a Past District Governor of District 9141, and her tenure as TRF trustee would lapse on June 30, 2028.

The current trustee chair is Mark Daniel Maloney, who was Rotary International President in 2019-20 when the Covid-19 pandemic turned the world upside down. It was during his term that Rotary held its first-ever virtual convention from June 20 – 26, 2020 that was originally planned to be a physical event in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The seed money of US$26.50 has continued to grow and the value this year is expected to reach US$2.025 billion.  All the monies donated to the foundation are invested in various high-yielding ventures like stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. as advised by the trustees for a period of three years.

After three years, the funds – only the interest is touched – become available to be disbursed as grants. The Rotary Foundation offers grants that support humanitarian projects, scholarships, and vocational learning teams. We have: a) district grants, b) global grants, c) disaster response grants and d) program of scale grants.

District grants fund smaller-scale, short-term projects that address immediate needs in our communities or abroad; global grants support large international projects with long-term, sustainable outcomes in one or more of Rotary’s areas of focus. They range from US$30,000 to US$400,000.

The disaster response grants support disaster relief and recovery efforts in areas that have been affected by natural disasters through grants from the Rotary Disaster Response Fund, while the program of scale grants benefit a large number of people or a significant geographical area. The grant supports Rotary member-led, evidence-based programs that have already demonstrated success.

The program of scale grant is worth US$2 million and three have been issued to date. The first grant was given to Zambia to fight malaria (Malaria-Free Zambia project); the second grant was given to Nigeria for maternal and child health while the third was given to Egypt for cervical cancer.

Rotarians and non-Rotarians are encouraged to contribute to foundation. The three types of funds available in the foundation are: a) the Annual Program Fund, b) the PolioPlus Fund and c) the Endowment Fund.

Under the Endowment Fund, we have the Arch Klumph Society (named after the sixth President of Rotary International) which recognises The Rotary Foundation’s highest tier donors – those who have contributed US$250,000 or more during their lifetime. Some Nigerian Rotarians are Arch Klumph Society members.

Under this fund, we also have Bequest Society members (those who make a commitment for future gifts of US$10,000 or more to the fund that is redeemed after their death), and Benefactors (those who contribute US$1,000 or more to the fund outright, or when they include the fund as a beneficiary of US$1,000 or more in their estate plans).

Now, let’s talk about Polio and the fund being used for the eradication of the wild-polio virus. “Polio, or poliomyelitis,” according to a statement on Rotary International’s website, “is a paralysing and potentially deadly disease that most commonly affect children under the age of five. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system.

“Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), Rotary’s commitment has seen polio cases reduced by 99.9 per cent since the first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.

“Rotary members have contributed US$2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly three billion children in 122 countries from this paralysing disease. Rotary advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than US$10 billion to the effort.”

Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Until the polio virus transmission is interrupted in these two countries,” says GPEI, “all countries remain at risk of importation of polio, especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunization services and travel or trade links to endemic countries.”

Nigeria used to be listed alongside Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria (PAIN, what an acronym!) as the remaining countries in the world where the polio virus was endemic. However, Nigeria was certified polio-free on August 24, 2020 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Before then, Nigeria’s last case of indigenous wild-polio virus was in 2016, whereas in 2006, Nigeria had the highest number of polio cases in the world.

More than US$300 million was spent by Rotary to kick out the polio virus from Nigeria. Last year, The Rotary Foundation donated another US$14 million to strengthen polio surveillance in the country which was facilitated by the Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee chaired by Past District Governor Joshua Hassan.

The eradication of the wild polio virus was successful because community health workers and volunteer community mobilisers built effective community engagement; regions of high risk were targeted; missed children were tracked, and community-based surveillance and independent monitoring were improved.

However, information on the current status as of December 2022, revealed that there were 168 cases of vaccine-derived variant of polio (a circulating type 2 transmission strain), in the country. To maintain the polio-free status, Nigeria administers over 270 million vaccines each year.

In 2024, Nigeria recorded around 50 polio cases between January and May, despite vaccination campaigns and monitoring efforts. The polio virus that was discovered in Nigeria in 2021 continues to circulate, particularly in high risk areas. This variant often affects communities that are under-immunised, where routine vaccine coverage is low.

Every Rotarian is required to support the PolioPlus Fund by contributing a minimum of US$10, while the contribution by each Rotary Club is US$1,500. Each Rotary District is expected to apply 20 per cent of their District Designated Funds (DDF) to support the fund which is matched with an additional 50 per cent by Rotary’s World Fund.

By the way, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation doubles contributions to the polio fund in the ratio of 2:1 matching grant.

Mark Maloney, the TRF chair and his spouse, Gay, are visiting Nigeria from January 15 – 20, 2025. The couple would be received by Pearl Ijeoma Okoro (member of The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees) and other Rotary leaders in Abuja.

He is scheduled to meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Aso Villa. Mark Maloney added Tunde to Mark as a mark of his engagements and recognition of his footprints in Nigeria. President Tinubu should call him Marktunde Maloney to confirm is Nigeria-ness and his relationship with Nigerians.

This would not his first visit to Nigeria. I recall that in September 2018, Maloney and Gay were in Nigeria. At that time, Maloney was the President-elect of Rotary International. We posed for photographs at Eko Hotel, in Lagos.

Maloney and Gay are billed to interact with Rotarians in Abuja (District 9126 and District 9127) before flying into Lagos on Saturday January 18, where he would be hosted by District Governors Oluwole Kukoyi and Femi Adenekan of District 9111 and District 9112 respectively.

His itinerary in Lagos includes a press conference, advocacy engagements, visit to the Polio House, funding raiser, symbolic polio immunisation, town hall meeting and gala dinner with Rotarians, partners as well as other stakeholders.

How are you doing good in your community? What are you doing to make a difference in other people’s lives? It is never too late; you can start today. You can become a goodwill ambassador, and you can also decide to join Rotary.

Braimah is a communications strategist and publisher/editor-in-chief of Naija Times (https://ntm.ng) and Lagos Post (https://lagospost.ng). He is also the Chair of Public Image Committee (2024-2025), Rotary International, District 9112, and can be reached at [email protected].